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Heli Adventures Acquires Silverton Big Mountain Ski Area
05.10.2023 - 03:27 / skift.com / Selene Brophy
Aspen-based adventure travel operator Heli Adventures has acquired the iconic Silverton Mountain Ski Area in Colorado, with the highest ski elevation in the U.S.
Silverton, loved by extreme adventure travelers, was founded in 2001 and has no set runs, no signage, and no grooming of trails. It’s a sharp contrast to commoditized, developed ski resorts and meant for expert skiers and snowboarders.
Founders Jen and Aaron Brill were selective in choosing buyers, according to new owners Heli co-founders Andy Culp and Brock Strasbourger, who finalized the deal at the end of September for an undisclosed amount.
Silverton features a single, two-seat chairlift and a small warming yurt, with the majority of its 26,819 acres accessible only by hiking from the top of the lift. There’s also a helicopter option: “So by using a helicopter, it allows you to reach and ski and ride terrain that would be impossible or extremely challenging without a helicopter,” said Culp.
The former owners, who had developed the mountain ski area from scratch, were also concerned that the overdevelopment of the ski area could negatively impact the small community surrounding it.
“We are not a big corporate group,” said Culp. “We are a small team of hungry entrepreneurs and passionate adventurers. And that was the right fit for the mountain. And that’s what Jen and Aaron were looking for when they chose us. Brock and I and our team are passionate expert backcountry skiers. That underpins why we pursued this business that we started in 2016.”
Strasbourger described Silverton as “pure, unadulterated, underdeveloped, and preserved in its natural state. It’s a mountain experience that is different from a typical resort.”
The Silverton acquisition aligns with Heli’s existing adventure travel booking platform Heli.Life, which includes adventure experiences, such as kitesurfing and fly fishing. Silverton is Heli’s second ski area property: In 2022, it bought British Columbia’s Great Canadian Heli-Skiing and Heather Mountain Lodge, positioning the company as a mountain operator in addition to its online distribution business.
“What that means for our business, as well as these operations, is that we can leverage all of our learnings, all of our insights into the market to make each of these operations marginally better, as well as position them more prominently within the adventure market,” said Culp.
A post shared by Heli (@heli)
As one of only seven major heli-skiing destinations within the lower 48, Silverton offers single helicopter flights to untouched snow for $184, a bucket list adventure for Heli.Life’s 30-50 years old demographic, mainly from North America and Europe.
With an average of 10,000 visitors per year, heli-skiing
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